International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Presentation prepared by Mike Robson Project Manager
Presentation Objectives Project Goals and History System architecture overview Content Sources Content Classification Illustration of the portal Desired outcomes
Project Goals and History Mandate: FAO Biosecurity paper - COAG refined scope and confirmed (March 2003) “... an information system to facilitate the exchange of official, science-based information relevant to food safety, animal and plant health...”
... Project Goals (II) To provide better access (than Google) to official information on food safety, animal and plant health on the to highlight cross-sectorial issues to show clearly that results are definitive and not derived from secondary (interpreted) sources
What the portal is A tool for capacity building to improve management of agricultural “biosecurity”... A means of facilitating trade through greater transparency in the regulatory arena...
What the portal isn’t Everything about food safety, animal and plant health... The place for answers to e.g. detailed phytosanitary questions... An early warning system
Tools overview... based on non-proprietary components (XML/Java)... to support a requirement for: distributed data entry, workflow integration with existing websites integration of structured metadata dissemination by web and CD
Tools overview (II) Through creation of a set of knowledge objects: formal texts (agreements, basic texts, regulations, standards...) supporting materials (risk assessments, expert consultations, guidelines, data sheets) contacts (NPPO, Codex, WTO SPS Inquiry points) institutions (reference laboratories, collaborating centres)
International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Codex Alimentarius International Phytosanitary Portal Office International des Epizooties Overall system architecture source systems for international standards
International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health Codex Alimentarius International Phytosanitary Portal Office International des Epizooties Overall system architecture WTO SPS/TBT CBD FAOLEX database of national laws and regulations on food & agriculture National sources of relevant information
Who are potential national “nodes” in developing countries In the first phase, prerequisites are: a basic level of capacity to manage regulatory information potential to increase (safe) trade
National capacity to manage regulatory information covers the whole spectrum large number of sophisticated websites; 000s of potential items of data 1 or 2 websites; 00s of potential items of data One website – some data poor internet infrastructure, no capacity to build or manage a website – data still on paper Initial focus on these countries
Content Sources Automatic – harvesting based on queries on source metadata (FAOLEX, WTO) Batch upload via XML – temporary solutions where site metadata cannot yet be mapped (WTO Trade Concerns; some Codex and OIE material) Manual entry - secure, with workflow (country data if no prior website)
Content Classification Each item is tagged four separate ways: Commodity based on Harmonized System (HS) codes WCO Geography (ISO) Cross-sectorial Issue keyword (risk analysis, traceability, etc) Source (International organization, regional body, national, etc)
Illustration of the portal